{"id":2044,"date":"2014-06-14T20:23:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-14T20:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=2044"},"modified":"2017-07-22T08:59:21","modified_gmt":"2017-07-22T08:59:21","slug":"md-lrs-chutes-from-the-skies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2014\/06\/14\/md-lrs-chutes-from-the-skies\/","title":{"rendered":"MD LRS CHUTES from the SKIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2055″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1500582031643{margin: 0px !important;border-width: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important;}”]By Staff Sgt. Michael E. Davis, Jr., 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn”]\"\"Soldiers with C Co., 1st Squadron, 158th Cavalry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard, conducted a non-tactical jump from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter over Bitner Drop Zone in Little Orleans, Maryland, June 14.<\/p>\n

The long-range surveillance (LRS) unit performed its quarterly routine airborne exercise and transitioned to a new parachute system, the MC-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re an airborne company, and in order to be airborne, you have to maintain your proficiency,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Eric Zubkus, C Company\u2019s training noncommissioned officer.<\/p>\n

Zubkus said they also wanted to try out the new parachute system during the quarterly exercise because they plan to perform airborne missions with it during their annual training (AT) next month at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want the Soldiers to do their first combat equipment night jump with a chute they\u2019re not familiar with,\u201d Zubkus said. \u201cSo this is basically a familiarization jump and an airborne refresher so they can get familiar with their new chutes in order to successfully complete their mission at AT.\u201d\"\"<\/p>\n

Although the training mission was meant to introduce everyone to the new parachutes, not everyone got a chance to jump. The wind velocity increased during the second jump iteration, and then became too strong for the exercise to safely continue.<\/p>\n

However, Zubkus said he would try his best to make sure those Soldiers who didn\u2019t get a chance to jump have an opportunity to practice before their combat equipment night jumps.<\/p>\n

Pfc. Mackenzie Keck, who recently transferred to the Maryland Guard, said he was looking forward to his first jump with the unit on Saturday. He said he\u2019d heard how \u2018high speed\u2019 the team was; their motivation and skill encouraged him to transfer.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the weather got in the way, and Keck\u2019s first jump with his new teammates and the new parachute may not happen until AT at Fort Bragg.<\/p>\n

Soldiers who have worked with the new MC-6, such as parachute rigger Staff Sgt. John Yarnall, say Keck and others who haven\u2019t experienced it yet have a good deal to look forward to.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I like [the MC-6 parachutes] a lot better,\u201d said Yarnall, who played a major part in the training. \u201cThey fly a lot better, you can slow down better, you can pick a spot where you want to land and have a better chance [of landing there]. They also have a braking system in it so you can land a little bit softer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the other Soldiers like Spc. Joe Crist and Spc. Sam Mcquaid, who didn\u2019t get a chance to experience the finer flying, the smooth steering and the softer landing with the new parachutes, are looking forward to their training at Fort Bragg.<\/p>\n

The main purpose of the jumps isn\u2019t just to break in the new gear: it\u2019s to craft a skillful airborne team capable of adapting to any situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery jump is different one way or another,\u201d said Spc. Joe Crist. \u201cYou can never treat it like, \u2018I\u2019ve done a hundred jumps so I\u2019m an expert.\u2019 We actually jump for proficiency; we actually get better at it.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTNDYSUyMGRhdGEtZmxpY2tyLWVtYmVkJTNEJTIydHJ1ZSUyMiUyMGRhdGEtaGVhZGVyJTNEJTIydHJ1ZSUyMiUyMCUyMGhyZWYlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy5mbGlja3IuY29tJTJGcGhvdG9zJTJGbWRuZyUyRmFsYnVtcyUyRjcyMTU3NjQ1MjIxNTk2NzAyJTIyJTIwdGl0bGUlM0QlMjJMUlMlMjBjb25kdWN0JTIwbm9uLXRhY3RpY2FsJTIwanVtcCUyMiUzRSUzQ2ltZyUyMHNyYyUzRCUyMmh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGZmFybTMuc3RhdGljZmxpY2tyLmNvbSUyRjI5MDYlMkYxNDQ0ODM3MjQ2NV8wODU1ZjY4M2QwX2IuanBnJTIyJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjIxMDI0JTIyJTIwaGVpZ2h0JTNEJTIyNjgwJTIyJTIwYWx0JTNEJTIyTFJTJTIwY29uZHVjdCUyMG5vbi10YWN0aWNhbCUyMGp1bXAlMjIlM0UlM0MlMkZhJTNFJTNDc2NyaXB0JTIwYXN5bmMlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjIlMkYlMkZlbWJlZHIuZmxpY2tyLmNvbSUyRmFzc2V0cyUyRmNsaWVudC1jb2RlLmpzJTIyJTIwY2hhcnNldCUzRCUyMnV0Zi04JTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGc2NyaXB0JTNF[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soldiers with C Co., 1st Squadron, 158th Cavalry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard, conducted a non-tactical jump from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter over Bitner Drop Zone in Little Orleans, Maryland, June 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":2055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[63,115,471,745,746,749,64,747,748],"class_list":["post-2044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maryland-line","category-news","tag-158th-cavalry-regiment","tag-airborne","tag-annual-training","tag-ch-47-chinook-helicopter","tag-drop-zone","tag-jump","tag-long-range-surveillance","tag-mc-6","tag-parachute-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2044"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2059,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044\/revisions\/2059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}